French · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "merci" in French?

Q: How do you pronounce merci in French?

merci is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /mɛʁ.si/. It means “thank you.” mehr-SEE, with the weight on the second syllable and a throat-made "r" that barely colours the vowel.

mehr-SEE, with the weight on the second syllable and a throat-made "r" that barely colours the vowel.

merci /mɛʁ.si/

mer-CI, with the second syllable slightly longer and higher. Because English has the near-identical word "mercy" stressed the other way, this is a word where you have to consciously push the beat to the end.

Listen: merci

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Sound it out

me An open "eh" as in "bed". Not the "ur" of "mercy" — the vowel stays flat and front.

r Uvular: the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate and the air rasps past it. In this position it is very light, almost a puff, and it must not bend the preceding vowel the way an English "r" does.

ci "c" before "i" is always a soft "s", and "i" is a pure "ee". So: "see".

Hear it in a sentence

Merci beaucoup pour ton aide.

Thank you very much for your help.

Listen: Merci beaucoup pour ton aide.

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"Merci beaucoup pour ton aide" ends with a liaison you must make: "ton aide" is /tɔ̃.n‿ɛd/, so the nasal vowel of "ton" is followed by a real "n" bridging into "aide". That final "d" in "aide", meanwhile, is pronounced, because it is followed by a silent "e" — the "e" exists precisely to keep the consonant alive.

Where English speakers slip

The pull of the English word "mercy" is enormous: it has the same letters, the same meaning-adjacent origin, and the stress on the first syllable. Say "MER-see" with an American "r" colouring the first vowel and you have said an English word with a French coat of paint. Keep the first vowel as a plain "eh", let the "r" happen in your throat without reshaping the vowel, and put the lift on "-ci".